A
Analog Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)
Defined in EIA/TIA-553 standards. In 2006, AMPS is still the most extensive wireless coverage available for nationwide service in the US. However, in 2002, the FCC made the drastic decision to no longer require A and B carriers to support AMPS cellular service as of March 1, 2008. Since the AMPS standard is analog technology, it suffers from an inherently inefficient use of the frequency spectrum. All AMPS carriers have converted most of their consumer base to a digital standard such as CDMA or GSM and continue to do so at a rapid pace. Digital technologies such as CDMA support multiple voice calls on the same channel, superior call quality, enhanced features such as two-way text messaging, voicemail indicator, internet, and GPS services; whereas, AMPS can only support one call per channel and a basic one-way short message service. AMPS cellular service operates in the 800 MHZ FM band. In 1989, the Federal Communications Commission granted carriers an expansion from the current 666 channels to the now 832 (416 per carrier). The additional frequency was available in the upper 800 MHz band which also was home to UHF channels 70-83. This meant that these UHF channels could no longer be used for UHF TV transmission as these frequencies were to be used for AMPS transmission.
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Adapted from Wikipedia.